Pass on bong ban

Published: Friday, April 5, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

It’s hard to believe that banning bongs will reduce the consumption of marijuana. Potheads will craft their own homemade bongs and pipes (some already do) to enhance their smoking experience.

Why not ban rolling papers, too? Yes, some people fill them with legal tobacco to create cigarettes, but they often are also used to … roll joints. In addition, some folks take legal cigars, remove the tobacco and refill the wrapper with wacky weed to make blunts.

Perhaps the state should ban the sale of black-light posters and Bob Marley CDs.

In short, marijuana users aren’t going to be deterred by a bong ban. The people who will be hurt, though, are the shop owners who have been selling legal products that can be used for illicit purposes, but which aren’t inherently evil. One day they are licensed, taxpaying merchants. With a stroke of a pen, the next day they are purveyors of “utensils of death.”

Like most tools, bongs can be used for lawful or unlawful reasons. The state should only be concerned about the latter. For instance, if a lawful police search of private property, such as a home or motor vehicle, turns up a bong or pipe with marijuana residue in it, then it can be considered contraband. But until then, it’s just an inert device.

The Legislature is pursuing bongs at a time when polls show public support for criminalizing marijuana has been diminishing. There are far more important issues legislators should pursue — ones that don’t make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.

Rouson three years ago sponsored legislation, signed into law by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, that limited smoking paraphernalia to stores that made 75 percent of their income from tobacco sales. That sparked a lawsuit by a group of “head shop” owners who challenged the law’s constitutionality. A judge ruled in the state’s favor, and now Rouson is back to finish the job.

He says his goal is to end the “head shop hypocrisy” in which retailers sell bongs with a wink and nod that the devices will be used to consume only legal tobacco. In an interview last month with the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Rouson called bongs “utensils of death.”

One key to understanding Rouson’s personal crusade: He is a former crack cocaine addict.

That doesn’t explain, though, why his legislation attracts so much support.

It’s hard to believe that banning bongs will reduce the consumption of marijuana. Potheads will craft their own homemade bongs and pipes (some already do) to enhance their smoking experience.

Why not ban rolling papers, too? Yes, some people fill them with legal tobacco to create cigarettes, but they often are also used to … roll joints. In addition, some folks take legal cigars, remove the tobacco and refill the wrapper with wacky weed to make blunts.

Perhaps the state should ban the sale of black-light posters and Bob Marley CDs.

In short, marijuana users aren’t going to be deterred by a bong ban. The people who will be hurt, though, are the shop owners who have been selling legal products that can be used for illicit purposes, but which aren’t inherently evil. One day they are licensed, taxpaying merchants. With a stroke of a pen, the next day they are purveyors of “utensils of death.”

Like most tools, bongs can be used for lawful or unlawful reasons. The state should only be concerned about the latter. For instance, if a lawful police search of private property, such as a home or motor vehicle, turns up a bong or pipe with marijuana residue in it, then it can be considered contraband. But until then, it’s just an inert device.

The Legislature is pursuing bongs at a time when polls show public support for criminalizing marijuana has been diminishing. There are far more important issues legislators should pursue — ones that don’t make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.